Kim went to the White House to speak to President Trump about commuting the sentence of 63-year-old Alice Marie Johnson, who was convicted on federal drug and money-laundering charges in 1996 and sentenced to life in prison. But Kim said her involvement didn’t start with the president: “I reached out to Ivanka and I said … ‘I know that you have compassion for women like this.’ And I explained to her her story, and she immediately got it.”

Over the following months, Kim remained in contact with Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, until she finally got her invite to the executive mansion. Once she was there, it became clear that she and the president were on the same page. “He was compassionate,” Kim said of Trump. “He was sympathetic to her. He said … ‘This is a really long time that she’s been in here. This just isn’t fair.’ He knew that this was the right thing to do.”

After Trump called Kim to let her know he was signing the papers to commute Alice’s sentence, Kim called Alice with the good news. “I was a little bit shocked because she was very calm, and I had assumed she knew,” she told Van. “So I just was like, ‘Wait, she doesn’t know?’ And Alice was like, ‘Know what?’ And I was like, ‘You’re going home.’

So grateful to @realDonaldTrump, Jared Kushner & to everyone who has showed compassion & contributed countless hours to this important moment for Ms. Alice Marie Johnson. Her commutation is inspirational & gives hope to so many others who are also deserving of a second chance.

While some people think that Trump is just using Kim as a political pawn or that she is giving the president legitimacy, the Keeping Up with the Kardashians star is just glad Alice Marie Johnson is now a free woman. “I don’t think I would be used,” Kim said. “At the end of the day, he heard me out. We got the job done.”